This is a short one with a simple query. Why are women, women’s own worst enemies?
I have seen the sort of networking that carries on between men. The old boys club exists the world over. Undoubtedly, men can be competitive, jealous and eager to get ahead at any cost too. But very rarely does one see the kind of pettiness that women can exhibit towards their own kind.
This strange one-upmanship from houses to spouses, from careers to children, from figures to four wheels, is a disturbing phenomena. Why can’t we, as women, be supportive and nurturing towards one another? Why do we have to put another down to feel good about oneself?
Isn’t life, the world, and the other sex hard enough on us, without us compounding the problem?
It’s an interesting idea. Out of everyone, shouldn’t we all understand each other better? It’s something I see a lot with girls my age, who often comment “I’m not like other girls”, in an attempt to attract the attention of a boy. What is wrong with being like other girls?
Personally I think it has something to do with the fact that we are constantly bombarded with the idea that being a woman isn’t good enough. For example, dressing masculinely is fine for a woman, but for a man to dress femininely is wrong.
Being a certain type of woman isn’t good enough so we try to out do each other, we want to show off that we have better lives, better jobs, better everything, to validate ourselves. If we see another female doing better than us, we feel bad personally.
There are enough people out there trying to put us down for how we dress, how we look, what we do, what we don’t, that we don’t need to add the pressures of other females bashing down on us too.
(I apologise for the shoddy explanation here, I had lots more things to contribute, but I am currently revising for an exam!)
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head! It is a form of validation. But how sad that it has to be through these means.
Having said that, there are some wonderful, supportive women out there who have mentored others, helped bring about much needed change, smashed through glass ceilings etc. How much more validation that brings!
Let us hope that more women see the futility of belonging to the former group, and the satisfaction of belonging to the latter.
Good luck with the exam & thank you for that thought provoking and not at all shoddy comment!x